Self-propelling tripper.



H. E. HOWARD. SELF PROPELLING TRIPPER.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.15, 19l3. 1 087 375. 7 I Patented Feb. 17,1914. 7

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H. E; HOWARD.

SELF PROPELLING TRIPPER.

APPLIOATION FILED OUT. 15, 1913.

Patented Feb. 17,1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'QQLUKBIA PuNoanAPl-l 410., WASHINGTON, Dv c.

a'rns PANI o HERMON E. HOWARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WELLER MANUFAC TUBING 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SELF-PROPELLING TRIPPER.

testers.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERiroN E. HOWARD, a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Propelling Tripper-s, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to conveyors and more particularly to devices known as selfprcpelling trippers, which are employed to discharge material from the conveyer-belt at different points along the conveyer.

In grain elevators it is now common practice to employ trippers, which may be propelled by the conveyer belt in either direction along a track over a series of bins in the elevator to discharge grain into any of the bins. These conveyer-belts are usually of considerable length and are driven at a high speed. In the use of these belts, it has been found desirable to avoid the use of flanged pulleys for holding the belt thereon, because of the wear and tear on the edges ofthe belt. It has also been the practice to provide a frictionavheel or device for driving the propelling means, which was adapted to be shifted into operative relation with either of the belt pulleys of the tripper to propel a truck on which the tripper is mounted, in opposite directions along the track. In devices of this class, it is desirable to provide a tripper which occupies little morespace laterally than is necessary for the belt, so that the inclosing structure need not be of unnecessary width.

In devices in which a single pulley is adapted to be shifted into operative relation with either of the pulleys for the purpose of propellingv the truck, it has been nec-' essary for the wheel to intersect the plane of movement of the belt and, therefore, at times, when considerable side slippage of the belt occurs, the latter would be cut or worn by the wheel for the propelling means. In view of the cost of these unusual large conveyer belts, which are employed in this class of devices, such cutting of the belt entailed considerable loss in replacement or repairs. The invention designs to overcome this objection to prior trippers by providing wheels or devices for driving the propelling means which are shiftable into and out of operative relation with the belt-pulleys and are disposed without the plane of movement of the conveyer belt, so that there Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 15, 1913.

Patented Feb.17, 1914.

Serial No. 795,289.

will be considerable clearance for side-slippage without increasing the width of the machine and so that when side slippage occurs, the belt cannot encounter these wheels and be torn thereby.

In the drawings: Figure 1 shows a front elevation of the conveyer. side elevation with part of the discharge spout in dotted lines. Fig. 3 shows a section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 2.

The conveyer truck 10 consists of parallel upright members 11 secured together by cross braces such as 14, and 15. corner of the members 11 are pivotally mounted wheels 16 adapted to rest on the tracks 17 so that the truck may be moved along the same. Shoes 18 are adapted to engage each of the tracks 17 and are pivotally secured to the rods Hand 20. The rod 19 is secured to the frame at 21 and the rod 20 is eccentrically connected with the locking lever 22 so that by movement of said lever the shoe may be made to engage the rail to lock the truck on the track.

The endless belt conveyer 23 passes over a pulley 24 mounted on the shaft 25 running in bearings 26 and 27 at the upper end of the frame members 11, thence over the pulley 28 on the shaft 29 pivotally mounted in bearings 30 and 31 on the intermediate portion of the frame members 11 and thence.

passes from the conveyer as at 32.

Mounted on shaft 25 adjacent one of its ends is the wheel 33 and similarly mounted on shaft 29 is the-wheel 34. The wheel 33 is adapted to engage with the wheel 35 secured on the shaft 36 situated on the frame members 11, below and to the left of the shaft 25. The wheel 39 is adapted to engage with the wheel 34 and is secured to the shaft 40 situated in bearings 41 in frame members 11, above and to the right of the shaft 29. These wheels 35 and 39, generally made of iron, are adapted to alternately engage the wheels 33 and 34, usually having an outer paper lining, by lever operated mechanism which will now be described.

Mounted eccentrically on shaft 36 is an arm 42 which is pivotally secured at its depending end to a link 43 and mounted in a similar manner on the shaft 40 is an upwardly extending arm 44 pivotally secured to the other end of the link 43. A link 45 is pivotally secured to the link 43 at 46 and to the operating lever 47 as at 48. The oper- Fig. 2 shows a At either ating lever l? is pivotally mounted on shaft 49 and as shown in Fig. 1 is in its normal position in which it is locked to the frame by a locking block 50 engaging the notch 51 on the segment 52 fastened to the frame. In this position of the lever the wheels 35 and 39 are out of engagement with the wheels 33 and 34. By shifting the lever 47 to the right wheel 39 will be thrown into engagement with the wheel 34 and the wheel 35 will remain out of engagement with the wheel 33. By pulling the lever 4:7 to the left the wheel 35 will be brought into engagement with the wheel 33 and the wheel 39 will be thrown out of engagement with the wheel 34. It follows then by shifting the lever 47 to the right or to the left either one of shiftable wheels can be brought into engagement with the wheels on the pulley shafts and thus affect the movement of the conveyer through the chain drive associated with the wheels 35 and 39. This chain-drive or truck propelling means comprises a link chain 52 which passes over the sprocket wheel 53 mounted on shaft 36 thence over a sprocket wheel 54 mounted on the shaft 40 thence over an idler 55 situated below the shafts 40 and 29 over a sprocket 56 secured to the shaft 57 pivotally mounted on the frame 11 at 58, then to a similarly mounted sprocket 59 secured to the shaft 60 as at 61 and then back to the sprocket wheel 53. Secured to the sprockets 59 and 56 are gears 62 and 63 adapted to mesh with gears 6% and secured to the outer sides of the wheel 16 mounted to turn on the same shaft with said wheels. Thus when elther of the Wheels 35 or 39 are driven, a corresponding movement will be imparted to the sprockets 56 and 59 through the chain drive which will cause the wheels 16 upon which the gears 6a and 65 are mounted to move along the track.

A stand A for the operator is mounted on the side of the truck 10 adjacent the operating lever.

A delivery spout B is secured to one side of the frame 10 as at C so that its upper portion may be adjacent the belt conveyer in order that the grain traveling on the conveyer will fall in the upper part of the delivery spout and then descend through the said spout to the discharge opening D.

The operation of the device is as follows; The endless belt conveyer drives the pulleys 2d and 2S and if it is desired to drive the conveyer forward, the lever 17 is moved toward the right thus bringing the wheel 39 into engagement with the wheel 34 disengaging the wheel 35 with that of the wheel 33 and rotating the sprockets 56 and 59, gears 62 and 63, gears 64: and 65 and consequently the wheels 16, so as to move the truck forwardly along the track. To move the conveyer backwardly the lever 47 will be shifted to the left thus causing the wheels 39 and 34c to be disengaged and the wheels 35 and 33 to contact with each other and re verse the direction of movement of the chain drive, and consequently the wheels 16.

By the arrangement of the wheels 35 and 39 with relation to the driving pulleys 2 t and 28 as described, the plane of movement of the belt conveyer 23 does not lie within the plane of movement of either of these wheels and they may therefore be placed within the frame and leave sufficient clearance for belt slippage.

The invention is not to be understood as restricted to the details set forth, since these may be modified by the skilled mechanic within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

' Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination with an endless belt conveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around. which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, and devices for driving said propelling means, adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with said pulleys to operate said propelling-means, said devices being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip laterally without encountering said devices.

2. The combination with an endless belt conveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes, and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, and wheels for driving said propelling-means, adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with said pulleys to operate said propelling-means, said wheels being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip laterally without encountering said wheels.

3. The combination with an endless belt conveyor, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, wheels secured to rotate with said pulleys respectively, and devices for driving said propelling means adapted to be shifted into and out of engagement with said wheels, to operate said propelling-means, said devices being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip laterally without encountering said devices.

L. The combination with an endless belt conveyer, of a self-propelling tripper, comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, wheels secured to rotate with said pulleys respectively, and wheels for driving said propelling-means adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with the wheels rotating with said pulleys to operate said propelling-means, said shiftable wheels being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip laterally without encountering said driving means.

5. The combination with an endless belt conveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, a device adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with one of said pulleys to drive the propelling-means in one direction, and another driving device for the propelling-means adapted to be shifted into operative relation with the other pulleys for operating the propelling-means in the opposite direction, said devices being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip sidewise or laterally without encountering said devices.

.6. The combination with an endless beltconveyer, of a self-propelling tripper, comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, a wheel adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with one of said pulleys to drive the propelling-means in one direction, another driving wheel adapted to be shifted into operative relation with the other pulley for operating the propellingmeans in the opposite direction, said wheels being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip sidewise or laterally without encountering said wheels.

7 The combination with an endless belt conveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven there-by, a wheel secured to rotate with each pulley, truck propelling means, a device adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with one of said wheels to drive the propelling-means in one direction, and another driving device adapted to be shifted into operative relation with the other wheel for operating the propelling-means in the opposite direction, said devices being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, and whereby the belt may slip sidewise or laterally without encountering said devices.

8. The combination with an endless beltconveyer, of a self-propellingtripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, a wheel secured to rotate with each pulley, truck-propelling means, a wheel adapted to be shifted into and out of engagement with the wheels rotating with one of said pulleys to drive the propelling means in one direction, and another wheel adapted to be shifted into engagement with the wheel rotating wit-h the other pulley for operating the propellingmeans in the opposite direction, said shiftable wheels being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip sidewise or laterally without encountering said wheels.

9. The combination with an endless beltconveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, devices for driving said propelling means, adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with said pulleys to operate said propelling means, said devices being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip laterally without encountering said devices, and a lever for conjointly shifting said devices.

10. The combination with an endless beltconveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling neans, wheels for driving said propellingmeans, adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with said pulleys to operate said propelling means, said wheels being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip laterally without encountering said wheels, and a lever for conjointly shifting said wheels.

11. The combination with an endless beltconveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, a device adapted to be shifted into and out of driving relation with one of said pulleys to drive the propelling means in one direction, another driving device for the propelling means adapted to be shifted into operative relation with the other pulley for operating the propelling means in the opposite direction, said devices being disposed without the plane of movement of the belt, whereby the belt may slip sidewise or laterally without encountering said devices, and a lever for eonjointly shifting both of said devices.

12. The combination with an endless beltconveyer, of a self-propelling tripper comprising a truck, pulleys journaled on the truck around which the belt passes and which are driven thereby, truck-propelling means, a Wheel adapted to be shifted into the plane of movement of the belt, whereby and out of driving relation With one of said the belt may slip sidewise or laterally vithpulleys to drive the propelling means in one out encountering said devices, and a lever direction, another Wheel for the propelling for conjointly shifting both of said Wheels. means adapted to be shifted into operative HERMON E. HOWARD.

relation With the other pulley for operating the propelling means in the opposite direetion, said Wheels being disposed Without Witnesses:

L. O. FRENCH, E. L. GERLAOH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

